ચોરી અને પ્રાયશ્ચિત Theft and Atonement (Chori ane Prayashchit)

મોહન ભૂલ કરે છે અને પછી અંદરથી અપરાધભાવથી પીડાય છે.

Young Mohandas gets caught in a wrong and takes a small piece of gold to clear a little debt. For the moment the matter is settled, but afterwards a sense of guilt settles into his mind. The weight of having done wrong keeps troubling him.

તે ભૂલ ચિઠ્ઠીમાં લખીને કબૂલ કરવાનું નક્કી કરે છે.

Mohandas feels he cannot live with this burden; the fault must be confessed. But he cannot find the courage to say it to his father's face. So he writes out his whole wrong in a note, and in it even asks to be punished.

ધ્રૂજતા હાથે મોહન માંદા પિતાને ચિઠ્ઠી આપે છે.

At that time the father is ill and bedridden. With trembling hands Mohandas places the note in his hand and waits for a response. He fears his father will be angry, scold him or punish him.

પિતા ગુસ્સે થયા વિના ચૂપચાપ આંસુ સારે છે અને માફ કરી દે છે.

The father reads the note. He does not say a single word, nor grow angry. From his eyes fall tears like pearls. Those tears wet the note. Then he tears it up - and forgives his son.

પિતાનો પ્રેમ અને મૌન જ મોહનને સાચે સુધારી દે છે - આ અહિંસાનો પાઠ છે.

Those silent tears pierce Mohandas's heart. What punishment could not do, the father's love and calm achieve - Mohandas reforms from within. Gandhiji writes that his father's conduct became a living object lesson in non-violence for him, one he could never forget all his life.